Forest Grove Fire & Rescue will conduct a training burn near the Kansas City community Saturday, May 13.
Firefighters will light a donated home ablaze at the corner of NW Kansas City Road and Hillside Road, giving new recruits a rare opportunity to experience live fire in a training context.
The exercise will also give instructors a chance to become certified in conducting live fire training, FGF&R said in a social media post. Hillsboro Fire & Rescue will also participate.
Unlike a training burn held in Gales Creek in November, there will be no opportunity for the public to watch.
“Unfortunately there is no room for public viewing of the training exercise and we ask the citizens not block area roadways,” FGF&R said.
While temperatures are expected to spike as high as 95 degrees Saturday according to the Portland office of the National Weather Service, the fire agency plans to move forward with the training burn.
About three miles to the east, Tualatin Valley Fire & Rescue announced they would ban outdoor burning starting Friday over concerns surrounding the temperature and possible sustained winds. FGF&R has not enacted a fire ban, nor has Banks Fire District to the north.
The agency will instead shrink the training timeline Saturday, said Matt Johnston, a spokesperson for Forest Grove Fire & Rescue in a message to the Gales Creek Journal.
The original plan was to start setup around 8 a.m., begin the training exercise around 9:30 a.m., with the structure slated to go into a full burn at around 1 p.m., sending smoke and flames into the sky visible throughout the area.
Johnston said conditions were not yet dry enough for FGF&R to enact a ban.
Forest Grove Fire & Rescue conducted a similar training burn in Gales Creek in November.
Chas Hundley is the editor of the Gales Creek Journal and sister news publications the Banks Post and the Salmonberry Magazine. He grew up in Gales Creek and has a cat.
